Tape winding device

ABSTRACT

A tape winder including a reel driven by an electric motor through a friction drive between the motor shaft and an annular flange of the reel, which provides a resilient driving connection enabling the reel to be quickly halted with no stall damage to the motor, and which additionally drastically reduces the possibility of damaging the tape being wound on the reel. Operation of the motor is controlled by an electric switch protruding axially from the front of the reel, so that one hand of the operator can be utilized for operating the switch and guiding the tape uniformly onto the reel body, while the other hand is employed to feed untangled tape to the reel.

llited States atent 11 1 1111 3,844,503

Peterson Oct. 29, 1974 TAPE WINDING DEVICE Primar Examiner-John W. Huckert 76 1 t. 1) H.Pt ,l212N.-l3th 1 men or g zgg gg Asszstanl Examiner-Edward J. McCarthy Attorney, Agent, orFirmJohn N. Randolph [22] Filed: June 20, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 371,887 [57] ABSTRACT A tape winder including a reel driven by an electric [52] US. Cl. 242/67.1R, 242/192 motor through a friction drive between the motor [51] Int. Cl B65h 23/18 shaft and an annular flange of the reel, which provides [58] Field of Search 242/67.1 R, 68.3, 71.8, a resilien riving connection enabling the reel to be 242/7L8 A, 192 quickly halted with no stall damage to the motor, and which additionally drastically reduces the possibility of [56] References Cited damaging the tape being wound on the reel. Operation UNITED STATES PATENTS of the motor is controlled by an electric switch protruding axially from the front of the reel, so that one 5 hand of the operator can be utilized for operating the 2946530 7/1960 Trimble til .11..12242 71.8 A X switch and guiding the tape uniformly Onto the 3:286:942 11 1966 Rube 242/683 x body, While the other hand is p y to feed untan- FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS glad tape the reel 442,736 2/l966 Japan 242 192 6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures TAPE WINDING DEVICE SUMMARY It is a primary object of the invention to provide a tape winding device especially adapted for winding tape or tapes, such as are used in the printing industry todrive slave or automatic machines, including computers or photocomposing machines, and by which the tape may be wound either for use or for storage.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tape winder on which long paper tapes can be wound quickly and with sufficient care to preserve their usefulness, with the minimum likelihood of damage to the tapes which are fragile and readily subject to being torn.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tape winder the operation of which can be quickly interrupted to prevent tape damage and wherein slippage or even stoppage can occur betweenthe reel and its driving motor to minimize the possibility of damage to the tape being wound or to the driving motor due to stall- A further object of the invention is to provide a tape winder having a unique motor mounting by means of v which the traction of the friction drive can be varied so that the likelihood of stall damage to the motor or damage to the tape by stoppage of the reel is minimized.

Various other objects andadvantages of the inventionwill hereinafter become more fully apparent from the following description of the drawings,-illustrating a presently preferred embodiment thereof, and wherein:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary substantially central longitudinal vertical sectional view, partly in side elevation, of the tape winder;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational'view thereof, with certain of the parts omitted, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 2-2 of FIG. 1, and on a somewhat reduced scale;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary cross sectional view, taken substantiaIlyalong-the line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view, taken substantially along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3, and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the reel, on asomewhat reduced scale, relative to FIG.-1, and looking toward the opposite side thereof to the reel side as seen in FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION or THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT which includes a front wall9 and side walls 10 and 11. The front wall 9 has an opening 12 through which a portion of an externally threaded hollow shaft 13 extends, the opening 12 being substantially larger than the shaft 13. Jamb nuts 14 and 15 threadedly engage on the shaft 13 and are tightened against the inner and outer sides, respectively, of the wall 9, for securing the shaft 13 immovably thereto with the major portion of its length extending outwardly from said wall.

A reel 16 includes a disc-like reel side 17 having an annular flange 18 extending from a rear face 19 thereof and opening through a front face 20 of said reel side. The flange 18 forms the reel hub which is concentrically disposed around the reel axis, as defined by the axis of the shaft 13. An anti-friction bearing 21 is mounted between the hub 18 and shaft 13. The outer race 22 of the bearing 21 has a press fit engagement in the hub 18.

An internally threaded sleeve 23- threadedly engages.

the outer end of the shaft 13 and abuts the outer edge of the inner race 24 of the bearing 21, for clamping said race 24 between said sleeve'23 and the nut 15, to main- An annular flange 25 projects from said rear face 19 and is disposed concentrically around the hub 18. The outer side of the flange 25 is covered by a traction ring 26-, which is preferably formed of leather. As best seen inFIGS. 1 and 2, corresponding fingers 27 forming the reel bed, project from the front face 20 and aredisposed concentrically around the reel axis and are equally spaced circumferentially relative to. one another. Each bed forming member or finger 27 has a slot 28 extending from adjacent the reel face 20 and open-v ing outwardly of the outer end of said finger.

An electric motor 29 is disposed within and supported by the box 8 and includes a motor casing 30 having a rib 31 at one side thereof and a rib 32 projecting from its other side. At least two headed screws 33 extend inwardlythrough openings 34 in the wall 10 and engage threaded sockets 35 which open outwardly of the rib 31. The screws 33 extend through thick resilient washers 36 which are disposed between the wall 10-and rib 31. The openings 34 are of sufficient size relative to the screws 33 to cooperate with the resilient washers 36 to permit a limited hinging or vertical rocking movement of the motor 29 relative to the wall 10. g

The lower end of a contractile spring 37 is anchored to the rib 32, midway of its ends, in any suitable man ner, asby means of a cotter pin 38, the upper end of which is secured to said lower end of the spring 37 and which extends downwardly through an opening in the rib 32 and is anchored to said rib, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 3. The upper endof the spring 37 is connected to an eye at the lower end of a screw 39 which extends upwardly through the horizontal top leg 40 of an angle bracket 41 'which'is secured to the inner side of the wall 11. A disc-like nut 42 rests on the flange 40 and threadedly engages the screw 39. The nut 42 is of a diameter so that a portion thereof projects through an opening 43 of the wall 11, as seen in FIG. 4, to enable the nut to be manipulated from the exterior of the support 8 for increasing or decreasing the tension on the spring 37,

for raising or lowering, respectively, the axis of the motor housing 30. Said motor housing axis is defined by the motor shaft 44which extends therefrom through an opening 45 of the wall 9, and which is disposed beneath the annular flange 25 and bears against its traction ring 26.

A pair of conductor wires 46 and 47 lead from a current source, not shown, and have terminals 48 and 49 disposed in the body 50 of an electric switch 51. The body 50 has an enlargement or flange 52 at its inner end which is threaded or otherwise secured in the sleeve 23, beyond the outer end of the shaft 13. The switch 51 also includes a push button 53 which projects outwardly from the body 50 and the sleeve 23, and which is normally disposed in an open or circuit interrupting position, as illustrated in FIG. 1. As seen in FlG. l, the electric motor 29 is interposed in the conductor 47, so that when the switch button 53 is manually displaced inwardly so as to engage and bridge the terminals 48 and 49, an electric circuit will be completed through the motor to cause rotation of its shaft 44 for driving the reel 17, in the opposite direction to the shaft 44, by frictional engagement between said shaft and the traction ring 26.

It will be apparent that the operator can use a finger of one hand for maintaining the switch 51 in a circuit closing position, leaving the remaining fingers of said hand and his other hand free for feeding the tape, not shown, onto the fingers 27 forming the reel bed. In addition to the fact that the supply of current to the motor 29 can be readily interrupted by releasing the button 53 to stop rotation of the reel 16, the shaft 44 can slip relative to the traction ring 26, should a stoppage of rotation of the reel occur, without causing stall damage to the motor 29 and to prevent damage to the tape being wound. The traction engagement between the shaft 44 and reel 16 can be varied by turning the nut 42 to increase or decrease the tension on the spring 37 for raising or lowering, respectively, the motor shaft 44 for thereby increasing or decreasing, respectively, the traction engagement between the shaft and reel.

Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may be resorted to, without departing from the function of scope of the invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. A tape winding device comprising a support memher, a shaft secured to and projecting from said support member, a reel having a disc-like side including a rear face and a front face, means rotatably mounting said reel on said shaft, an electric motor mounted on said support member and having a driveshaft projecting from the support member, and an annular flange projecting from said rear face and disposed concentrically around the reel axis and engaging the motor shaft to form a friction drive.

2. A tape winding device as in claim 1, said flange including a traction ring forming the exterior thereof and engaged by said motor shaft.

3. A tape winding device as in claim 1, fingers projecting from the front face of said reel side and forming the reel bed, and a manually actuated electric switch mounted on and projecting from the outer end of said shaft and interposed in the electric circuit of the motor.

4. A tape winding device as in claim 1, said shaft having an externally threaded portion, nuts engaging said threaded portion and disposed in clamping engagement with said support member, said reel having a flanged hub, an anti-friction bearing mounted in said hub and around a part of said shaft and constituting said means for rotatably mounting the reel on the shaft, and a nut threadedly engaging another threaded portion of said shaft and combining with one of said first mentioned nuts for clamping an inner race of the bearing therebetween.

5. A tape winding device as in claim 4, said shaft being hollow, said last mentioned nut comprising an internally threaded sleeve extending to beyond the outer end of said shaft, and a push button switch mounted in an outer portion of said sleeve and interposed in the electric circuit of the motor.

6. A tape winding device as in claim 1, means yieldably connecting a part of the motor to said support member for limited vertical rocking movement, spring means supported by said support member and yieldably supporting another part of the motor, and means for adjusting the tension of said spring means for varying the normal elevation of the motor shaft to vary the frictional contact of the motor shaft with said annular flange. 

1. A tape winding device comprising a support member, a shaft secured to and projecting from said support member, a reel having a disc-like side including a rear face and a front face, means rotatably mounting said reel on said shaft, an electric motor mounted on said support member and having a driveshaft projecting from the support member, and an annular flange projecting from said rear face and disposed concentrically around the reel axis and engaging the motor shaft to form a friction drive.
 2. A tape winding device as in claim 1, said flange including a traction ring forming the exterior thereof and engaged by said motor shaft.
 3. A tape winding device as in claim 1, fingers projecting from the front face of said reel side and forming the reel bed, and a manually actuated electric switch mounted on and projecting from the outer end of said shaft and interposed in the electric circuit of the motor.
 4. A tape winding device as in claim 1, said shaft having an externally threaded portion, nuts engaging said threaded portion and disposed in clamping engagement with said support member, said reel having a flanged hub, an anti-friction bearing mounted in said hub and around a part of said shaft and constituting said means for rotatably mounting the reel on the shaft, and a nut threadedly engaging another threaded portion of said shaft and combining with one of said first mentioned nuts for clamping an inner race of the bearing therebetween.
 5. A tape winding device as in claim 4, said shaft being hollow, said last mentioned nut comprising an internally threaded sleeve extending to beyond the outer end of said shaft, and a push button switch mounted in an outer portion of said sleeve and interposed in the electric circuit of the motor.
 6. A tape winding device as in claim 1, means yieldably connecting a part of the motor to said support member for limited vertical rocking movement, spring means supported by said support member and yieldably supporting another part of the motor, and means for adjusting the tension of said spring means for varying the normal elevation of the motor shaft to vary the frictional contact of the motor shaft with said annular flange. 